<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: A great gift for the practical observer.
Review: The Observer's Year is a fascinating potpourri of sky observing delights; a book destined to serve many an astronomy buff as tattered-ear reference for years. With succeeding nights of the year as context, Patrick Moore opens a treasure chest of astronomy. Specific stars, galaxies, the Moon, planets, meteor showers, nebulae and clusters are described and discussed with a casual randomness not often seen in books of science. The author often pays homage to famous, and not so famous, heroes of astronomy, to great accomplishments or to noteworthy events. He marks many dates by describing an "anniversary" or "future point of interest" in margin notes. Tables and charts accompany many of the stories, and simple star maps are included for each month. Most welcome, this book is designed for those viewing the sky with naked eye, binoculars or small telescope, but the armchair astronomer will read and reread this book as well. The index is weak and, considering the randomized placement of the stories, makes finding specific items difficult. Also, the lack of photographs is often disappointing. But, all in all, this book is a good companion to any introductory astronomy text, and a great gift for the practical observer.
Rating: 
Summary: Should be "The Naked-Eye and Binocular Observer's Year"
Review: This is not the book to get if you have a telescope - the entries for each day of the year are oriented to naked-eye or binocular observing. The selections for each day of the year are a bit strange - e.g. lunar features are scattered throughout the book and tied to specific days but what you can see on the Moon will depend on the Moon's phase which will vary from year to year for each day of the year. This is likely to confuse beginners if they think they will see the lunar features he describes on any particular day. Better for Moore to have chosen from the long list of wonderful deep-sky objects whose visibility is certain for any day of the year.Patrick Moore is the "grandfather" of British observing books and was knighted for his contribution (some 70 books) to amateur astronomy. But he was 75 years old when he wrote this book and he spends a lot of time conveying his opinions rather than simply presenting objects for beginners to view. Two of many examples are: he throws in irrelevant diatribes against astrology (a subject on which I strongly suspect he is ignorant), and he states that telescope users must only observe the Sun by projecting its image on a screen, which will certainly surprise the thousands of telescope owners who regularly and safely use solar filters on their scopes for direct solar viewing. To his credit he does discuss objects to view from the southern hemisphere but he only discusses this with respect to Australia and New Zealand, ignoring the possibility that there might be amateur astronomers in South America or Africa. Moore does include interesting historical notes on many of his selections. But there are much better observing books around, and also much better books on the history of astronomy. I was disappointed in this book.
<< 1 >>
| 
